Once again, it has been another busy week in school with more to come tomorrow if you are attending Pippin's birthday party. He is currently selecting his birthday bowtie to wear! We understand that many of the children are excited and looking forward to the occasion. We have also had another trip out this week with year 6 visiting the Steam Museum in Swindon as a culmination to their learning in history. The museum staff commented on their knowledge of World War 2 when they were participating in the workshops and their excellent behaviour. Finally, there has been more sporting success as our football team participated in a festival afterschool last Friday and our hockey team completed their hockey matches this Monday. 

Thank you to all of you who attended our family meetings this week whether online or in person. We hope that you found them valuable in discussing your child's learning and progress this term. 

We have now had families from every year group into school to have a cup of tea and a chat, see their children's work and be given a tour of the school by the children.

On Monday we welcomed Year 5 & Year 6 families.

Here is a snippet of the comments we have received via our survey.
Too many to add here unfortunately.

"We love the layout of the school. Great outdoor space. Fun and educational activities set up outside for reception. Wonderful classroom environment. Staff very friendly and informative. And Pippin is always a joy to see!"

"It was lovely to feel the buzz of all the children being in school and learning together. The Dunalley setting is wonderful, our children are very lucky to attend."

"It was so lovely to explore the school, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everything. My daughter was so happy to show me her work and a tour all around the school."

"Just lovely to interact with teachers and pupils and see how happy they all are. Was such a lovely opportunity to see for ourselves what they have been up too. So grateful for this."

"It was so wonderful to back on the school site again. I really appreciated all the effort that had gone in to making it such a special morning for families. Cups of tea & daffodils on all the tables - such thoughtful touches in what is already such a busy working day for you all."

"All the children seem so happy and content at the school. We love seeing how excited our daughter is to get into school in the morning."

"It was lovely to see the changes and how the site has developed over the last few years to enhance the children’s learning experience. My daughter was very proud to show me her work and be my tour guide around the school!"

"My children love attending here & learning. There is a wonderful atmosphere when they are greeted at the gate by the staff, the whole school is vibrant & there are so many creative areas for them to explore. The teachers are always so enthusiastic & supportive & our children are really happy."

We celebrated Pippin’s 3^rd birthday in the sunshine on Saturday, there were so many families having fun it was lovely to see.  The children (and some adults) fully engaged with Thomas Trilby, our circus entertainer and the ice creams were a big hit too.

Thank you to everyone who came along, we hope to do another family event in the summer term.

Pippin was delighted by the amount of gifts he receievd and absolutey loved the home made cards.

Thank you all so much for your generosity.

We are sad to announce that Miss Brook will be leaving Dunalley at the end of this term, next Friday will be her last day here. She will be a loss to our school, having made a tremendous contribution in her time here and will be missed by staff and children alike. I am sure that you will join us in wishing her all the best for the next step in her career.

We pleased to announce that Mrs Perrett will be joining the Dunalley team as Teaching Partner for the next term and we wish her a very warm welcome.

Year 1 will also see a slight change in the summer term, families have been informed of the changes.  Please refer to this letter for more information here.

We have another course to offer families this week, please follow this link:

Online Safety For Parents

Adult Education are running some great courses online which are designed especially for parents/carers. All courses are open to all and free* to many.

  *   Upgrade Your Maths is a 5 week course running on Thursday mornings from 10-12. This course is designed especially for parents who are anxious about maths. Parents work in a small group online and are supported so that they soon feeling comfortable tackling a range of maths questions and develop confidence to support their children with their homework. Starting on Thursday 28 April. You can enrol here.
  *   Help Your Child with Writing for ESOL Parents runs on Wednesday afternoons online. The focus of the class is to improve parents English skills and look at the techniques schools use to support children with their written skills in the UK.  This class runs weekly in term time for 12 weeks. You can enrol here.
  *   Calming the Mind is a 4 week introduction to mindfulness. Parents who attended this course last year have noticed a real change in their lives, and a greatly improved relationship with their children. This course is running on Monday evenings and Tuesday mornings, starting in early May. You can get more details and enrol here.
Parents can enrol online through the links above or by contacting Fay Tucker, details below.
* The courses are free if you are over 19 years old, have lived in the UK for 3 or more years, have a valid Residence Permit, and are one of the following: Unemployed or earning below £17,374 per year; Qualified below a Level 2 ( less than 5 GCSEs); Have mental health challenges, Have a learning difficulty or disability.

Fay Tucker
Adult Education Family Learning Coordinator
[email protected]

We have limited places avaliable for our new fun 'Dunalley Forest Tots', a Forest School inspired, nature based group for children aged 0-3yrs and their families.

Starts after Easter.

[email protected].

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Book Fair hosted by The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop,  from Nailsworth and Tetbury who have been keen to support us with our initiative to create a love of reading in our school.

We were fortunate to benefit from some fabulous new books for our school library.

We hope to invite The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop back as we had such good feedback on the quality of books on sale.

After school last Friday, our football team participated in a football festival with other local schools. Playing four games, they won each one! Congratulations to all who participated. Many thanks to Mr Adams for taking the children from the football afterschool club and to those parents who came along and supported the event. It was a great way to start the weekend.

Hockey team

Our hockey team have been participating in a hockey festival for the last two weeks, on a Monday afterschool, at Pates. Playing against some stiff opposition at times, the children all performed well following their practices before school on a Thursday. Once again thanks to Mr Adams for enabling this to happen.

If you are currently a year 2 parent/carer you may be aware that from year 3 you will need to pay for a school lunch for your child unless you qualify for free school meals.

It is very easy to apply, simply follow this link.
If you are unsure in any way please contact [email protected] and we will be very happy to help.

Applying for free school meals not only offers you the lunches at no charge it also provides additional income for school.

Dear Colleagues

Below are details of an incident(s) that took place on 29th March in the Prestbury area of Cheltenham. Incident numbers are below if you have any information.

I reported to the police, a man that has been a nuisance and quite intimidating to school girls walking to Pittville school - near Best One shop on the Prestbury Road.

He's a  tall white male, middle aged with a long grey beard, missing teeth and balding dressed in dark jacket and joggers. He's often seen with a can of alcohol in his hand and smoking, coming up to girls making crude statements and trying to block their way.

If he's been bothering or intimidating other students please report to the police and quote the following crime reference numbers 12136/22 and 12137/22

Regards

Steve Bradley
Project Officer
Block 5, 3rd Floor East
Shire Hall
Gloucester
GL1 2HY
Tel: 01452 328681

One of our new pupils from Sri Lanka saw a taste of snow this week for the very first time. 
She was so excited.

Once again thank you so much to those families who donated, we just wanted to update you that the dontaions have arrived in Poland very close to the Ukranian border.